Sept. 16 – “Once you know how to fly, you will walk the Earth looking at the sky, for there you have been and there you will want to go back.” Leonardo da Vinci dreamt to fly, and the Tuscan scientist elaborated the first real projects for the construction of flying machines: a challenge, a passion, a desire that led him – between the ‘400 and ‘500 – to look up. “The wings will come, if not because of me, thanks to another. Man will fly.” Leonardo began to study the concept and mechanics of flight by combining nature and engineering in the “Flight Codex,” 17 pages of text and drawings dating back to 1505. The Italian genius dwelt mainly on the flight of birds analyzed with a rigorous mechanical approach, as well as the function of wings, air resistance, winds and currents. The manuscript, however, is much more than a simple analysis of the flight of birds, much more than a collection of notes, ideas and thoughts: Leonardo’s notebook is a methodical attempt to propose new ideas on the subject of flight. Among the texts and drawings, Leonardo’s advanced flying machine is developed: the Great Kite, named after the bird he was exploring. The manuscript is preserved by the Royal Library of Turin, but today the Americans will be able to admire Leonardo’s designs in a display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. The exhibition will last until October 22, before moving, until February 2, 2014, at the Morgan Library in New York, to then return to Italy at the Royal Library of Turin. “The opportunity to host the Flight of Birds Codex is an extraordinary privilege for us – said Gen. JR ‘Jack’ Dailey, director of the National Air and Space Museum – as it allows us to trace the history of flight, sharing in the findings of a visionary whose genius transcends time, from the 16th century to the contemporary icons in the field of aeronautics and ‘exploration’.” The Codex was only once hosted in the United States and has rarely left Italy – said the director of the Royal Library, Giovanni Saccani, who brought it to Washington – we are very pleased to have brought this extraordinary work at the National Air and Space Museum, where so many American and international visitors will have the unique opportunity to see an original Leonardo da Vinci work.” “Bringing the Codex in Washington in 2013 also celebrates the Year of Italian Culture in the United States and the 50 years of collaboration between Italy and the United States in space. It is a means to link the Renaissance and modernity, tradition and innovation” said, finally, the Italian Ambassador in Washington, Claudio Bisogniero.
